Help Create Halton’s Food Strategy
Posted: November 7, 2016
Categories: GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Members
The Halton Food Counc
il, a Sustain Ontario member, is hosting Assembling the Ingredients Forum on November 22 to start the initial visioning for a food strategy in Halton.
The Halton Food Council is an independent, volunteer-based non-profit organization representing a broad range of sectors and interests across the food system in Halton Region. Their mission is to promote and support a sustainable local food system and to inspire people into action.
Beginning in the spring of 2017, the Halton Food Council will be embarking upon an ambitious journey by convening and helping to lead the development of a Food Strategy for Halton Region. The Council will be reaching out to the Halton agricultural community, food industry players, regional/municipal governments and a wide array of interested public action groups and committed consumers from across the region. In this public policy making process everything food related will be discussed from how to buy more food locally, growing and eating our own food, addressing food insecurity, to reducing the food we waste.
As a first step in this community conversation, the Halton Food Council will be releasing its recently completed environmental scan at its “Assembling the Ingredients” forum on November 22.The scan was undertaken over the last year and provides readers with in-depth insights organized around six steps in the food chain: production, processing, distribution, access and retailing, preparation and consumption, and waste. An exploration of the people, places, and activities at each stage helps to illuminate what influences the food system and draws attention to issues and opportunities.
The event will also include a panel discussion on food strategies undertaken by three Canadian urban centers: Edmonton, Hamilton and Toronto. Barbara Emanuel, Manager of the Toronto Food Strategy, Sandy Skrzypczyk, Project Lead of the Hamilton Food Strategy, and Jonathan McNeice, former lead advisor to the City of Edmonton’s Fresh Strategy, will be sharing their insights and experiences on the structure and processes that led to the development of food strategies in these three cities.
The event is open to living or working in Halton, who is interested in food related issues in the community. Please RSVP.